Colin Norris: Difference between revisions
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{{short description|Scottish serial killer}} |
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{{Infobox Serial Killer |
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{{Use British English|date=September 2014}} |
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| name =Colin Norris |
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{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2024}} |
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| location = [[Leeds]], [[England]] |
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{{Infobox serial killer |
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| victims = Four |
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| name = Colin Norris |
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| mo = Administration of overdose of [[insulin]] |
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| image = Colin Norris, Scottish nurse convicted of four murders and an attempted murder in 2008.png |
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| caption = [[Mugshot]] of Norris, taken by [[West Yorkshire Police]] |
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| birth_name = Colin Campbell Norris |
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| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1976|02|12}} |
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| birth_place = [[Milton, Glasgow]], Scotland |
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| locations = [[Leeds General Infirmary]] and [[St James's University Hospital]], [[Leeds]] |
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| country = [[England]] |
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| victims = 4–10 murder victims, 1 victim of attempted murder |
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| beginyear = May |
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| endyear = November 2002 |
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| apprehended = 2002 |
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| criminal_charge = [[Murder in English law|Murder]] (4 counts), [[attempted murder]] (1 count) |
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| penalty = [[Life imprisonment]] with a [[Life imprisonment in England and Wales#Minimum term|minimum tariff]] of 30 years imprisonment |
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| weapon = Overdoses of [[insulin]] |
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| imprisoned = [[HM Prison Frankland]] |
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}} |
}} |
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'''Colin Norris''' is a |
'''Colin Campbell Norris''' (born 12 February 1976)<ref name="RealCrimedocumentary" /> is a Scottish [[serial killer]] and former nurse convicted for the [[Murder in English law|murder]] of four elderly patients and the [[attempted murder]] of another in two hospitals in [[Leeds]], England, in 2002. |
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Norris, who self-admittedly disliked elderly patients and had previously stolen hospital drugs, was the only person on duty when all the five patients inexplicably fell into sudden [[hypoglycaemia|hypoglycaemic comas]], despite the non-[[diabetic]] women only being in minor injury wards with merely broken hips. Suspicions were raised when Norris predicted that healthy Ethel Hall would die at 5:15 am one night, which is when she fell into a catastrophic arrest, and tests revealed that she had been injected with an extremely high level of man-made [[insulin]]. Insulin was missing from the hospital fridge and Norris had last accessed it, only half an hour before Hall fell unconscious. |
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==Crimes== |
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Norris worked at [[Leeds General Infirmary]] and [[St James's University Hospital, Leeds|St James's Hospital]]. Suspicions were raised when Norris predicted the death of one patient, Ethel Halls, saying she would die at 5:15 a.m. She did. He stated at the time: "it is always in the morning when things go wrong".<ref name=Telegraph>{{Cite web |
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Subsequent investigations would find that the unnatural hypoglycaemic attacks followed him when he was transferred to a second hospital, and hospital records revealed that only he could not be eliminated as a suspect. Detectives believed that Norris was responsible for up to six other suspicious deaths where only he was always present, but a lack of [[post mortem]] evidence and other factors meant that investigators and the [[Crown Prosecution Service]] could not pursue convictions for these deaths. The murder inquiry was led by [[Chris Gregg]] and the investigation was praised for its thoroughness. |
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| url = http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/03/nnurse503.xml |
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Doubts were later raised about his conviction by, among others, Professor [[Vincent Marks]], an expert on [[insulin]] poisoning, who concluded from his own studies that there was a 1 in 10 chance that each patient's arrest could have happened naturally. However, others have pointed out that [[C-peptide]]s are produced in hypoglycaemic attacks caused by insulin produced naturally in the body, and these were not detected in any of the blood tests of the victims, indicating that the insulin had been introduced to their bodies externally and artificially. Norris lost an appeal against his conviction in 2009. In February 2021 the [[Criminal Cases Review Commission]] referred the case back to the [[Court of Appeal (England and Wales)|Court of Appeal]]. |
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Norris is believed to have been inspired by [[Jessie McTavish]], a fellow Scottish nurse who was convicted of murdering a patient with insulin in 1974 before having her conviction quashed in 1975. The incident had happened at [[Ruchill Hospital]] in Glasgow, less than a mile from where Norris grew up. Shortly before he qualified as a nurse he had learned about McTavish.<ref>{{cite web |title=The hatred that turned Colin Norris into serial killer |url=https://www.scotsman.com/news/hatred-turned-colin-norris-serial-killer-2478080 |website=www.scotsman.com |date=3 March 2008 |access-date=9 October 2022}}</ref> |
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==Background== |
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[[File:Milton from the air (geograph 2987995).jpg|thumb|right|400px|The [[Milton, Glasgow|Milton]] area of Glasgow, where Norris grew up and where he lived up until the trial. Ruchill Hospital, where the infamous [[Jessie McTavish]] incident took place which Norris learned about at university, can be seen in the distance at the top left-hand corner of the image (the building with the tall brick tower).]] |
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Norris was born and brought up in the [[Milton, Glasgow|Milton]] area of [[Glasgow]], Scotland.{{citation needed|date=June 2023}} He originally worked as a [[travel agent]] after leaving college, but after a few years in this role decided to retrain as a nurse.<ref name= "RealCrimedocumentary">{{cite AV media|people=[[Real Crime]]|title=Real Crime: Angel of Death|date=4 December 2008|medium=Television production|work=ITV|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqHdXPiXoWc&t=632s |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/cqHdXPiXoWc |archive-date=21 December 2021 |url-status=live}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Friends described him as someone who loved being centre stage, and said he enjoyed amateur dramatics.<ref name="centrestage">{{cite news |last1=Burns |first1=Janice |title=Trapped by Arrogance; 'Decent Young Man' Was Serial Killer Who Showed No Remorse for His Murder Spree: Evil Norris thought he would never be caught |newspaper=Daily Record |page=6|date=4 March 2008}}</ref> His academic record was average, but he became known for being quick to anger and his aggressive confrontations with tutors and, later, employers.<ref name="RealCrimedocumentary" /> His behaviour towards university lecturers at the [[University of Dundee]] was described as "unacceptable".<ref>{{cite news |title=Failings allowed Leeds nurse Colin Norris to kill |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/8481320.stm |work=BBC News}}</ref> He constantly argued with his tutor, and he later said of her: "my tutor and I didn't exactly see eye to eye. I had a personality clash, basically 'cos I had one and she never, and she was my personal tutor."<ref name="RealCrimedocumentary" /> Shortly before he qualified, this tutor was known to have taught Norris about [[Jessie McTavish]], a nurse convicted of murdering a patient with insulin at [[Ruchill Hospital]] in Glasgow, less than a mile from where Norris grew up. McTavish's conviction was overturned on appeal.<ref name="reviewing" /> Norris was tasked with "reviewing" her conduct by his tutor.<ref name="reviewing" /> Learning about McTavish would later be regarded as a [[Colin Norris#Motive|likely inspiration]] for Norris, and he would have learned at this point that insulin is the perfect weapon for murder because it leaves the blood very quickly.<ref name="reviewing"/> |
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Norris began working in [[Leeds]] after qualifying in June 2001, but quickly fell out with experienced authority figures, finding it difficult to be told 'no' or what to do.<ref name="RealCrimedocumentary" /><ref name="Timeline" /> Colleagues recounted him saying that he didn't like working on minor injury wards or with old people and wanted to work in the emergency department because it was more 'exciting' for him.<ref name="Turnedkiller">{{cite news |last1=Stokes |first1=Paul |title=Nurse accused of murdering four patients. He 'turned killer on the night shift' |newspaper=The Telegraph |date=17 October 2007}}</ref> He said he "wasn't put on this earth to sit in an office."<ref name="RealCrimedocumentary" /> The hospital later found out that he had been secretly working as a nurse in other hospitals on occasions when he claimed to be off sick or attending a training course.<ref name="probation" /> |
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His former partner said after his conviction that Norris had once hit him during an argument, bruising his head and once threw a bottle at him, which caused him to break up with Norris.<ref name="Holby" /><ref name="neveragain"/> He also said that, around the time of the murders, Norris had become engrossed by a storyline in ''[[Holby City]]'', in which a serial killer nurse played by [[Rachel Leskovac]] killed patients with insulin before eventually being uncovered as a murderer.<ref name="Holby">{{cite news |title=Nurse Colin Norris given 30 year jail term for murders |newspaper=Daily Mirror |date=5 March 2008}}</ref> This same storyline is believed to have inspired another UK nurse, [[Benjamin Geen]], to kill his patients.<ref name="BanburyG">{{cite news |title=A killer at the bedside |work=Banbury Guardian |date=20 April 2006}}</ref> In the month in which he began killing patients with overdoses, Geen appeared in an edition of the ''[[Banbury Guardian|Banbury Citizen]]'' which featured an interview with Leskovac.<ref name="BanburyG" /> Norris's partner also revealed, after Norris's conviction, that Norris had experimented on his cat Casper before he began killing patients, injecting it with a lethal dose of insulin.<ref name="God"/> The partner had reported him to the police but Norris claimed the cat had died from hitting its head on a wall.<ref name="God"/> |
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==Dislike of elderly== |
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As a trainee nurse Norris often refused to work with elderly patients, saying he "didn't want to be working with that type of person".<ref name="Nurses Who Kill">{{cite AV media|title=Colin Norris|url=https://player.stv.tv/episode/48cz/dcd-nurses-who-kill|work=Nurses Who Kill|publisher=[[Really (TV channel)|Really]]|date=30 November 2016|format=Series 1, episode 8|type=Television documentary}}</ref> He admitted to police he found elderly patients challenging.<ref name="RealCrimedocumentary" /> |
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Police would later discover that Norris had repeatedly mistreated elderly patients in the early months of his nursing career at the same Leeds hospitals in which he would later go on to murder patients. In one instance, an elderly man asked Norris to empty his [[catheter]] bag, only for Norris to flatly refuse and insist he do it himself, before going off duty.<ref name="RealCrimedocumentary" /> The elderly man then collapsed after trying to reach the bathroom by himself.<ref name="RealCrimedocumentary" /> Other patients stated that Norris had treated them in an offhand and callous manner, and that Norris had an apparent dislike of old people.<ref name="RealCrimedocumentary" /> Two elderly ex-patients said that Norris had verbally abused them after they rang an emergency buzzer on a ward when an elderly patient climbed out of bed, with Norris then saying to them "I hope you suffer" and "rot in hell".<ref name="from student" /> |
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==Murders== |
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===Ethel Hall=== |
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At the time of the murders, Norris worked at [[Leeds General Infirmary]] and [[St James's University Hospital]] in [[Leeds]], having qualified as a nurse only a year earlier.<ref name="Timeline" /><ref name="from student">{{cite news| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1580549/Colin-Norris-From-student-to-deadly-abuser.html| newspaper=The Daily Telegraph | location=London | title=Colin Norris: From student to deadly abuser | first=Paul | last=Stokes | date=2 March 2008 | accessdate=30 April 2010 |url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Ford|first=Steve|year=2008|title=Could Colin Norris have been stopped?|journal=Nursing Times|volume=104|issue=10|pages=8–9| pmid = 18416393}}</ref> Suspicions were raised when Norris predicted the death of one patient, Ethel Hall, saying to a fellow nurse hours before: "I predict 5:15 a.m. as being the time Ethel Hall will become unwell" since he "had a feeling about her".<ref name="RealCrimedocumentary" /> He said that he thought Hall was "going off tonight" and that he was a "jinx" on the hospital.<ref name="GoingOff">{{cite news |title=Murder accused predicted patient's death, court told |work=Yorkshire Post |date=16 October 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Murder trial nurse 'spoke of jinx' before patient collapsed |work=Yorkshire Post |date=2 November 2007}}</ref> This was despite there being no medical indications of an impending illness, and Hall being on the ward only for a fractured hip.<ref name="Timeline" /> Norris complained that he would have to fill out the paperwork for her death.<ref name="RealCrimedocumentary" /><ref name= "paperwork">{{cite news |title=Death forecast led to conviction |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7268836.stm |access-date=23 March 2021 |work=BBC News |date=3 March 2008}}</ref> Hall duly fell catastrophically ill that morning around 5 a.m. and she died some weeks later. When nurses including Norris came to tend to her, he tapped his watch and said to the nurse he had predicted Hall's illness earlier: "I told you".<ref name="RealCrimedocumentary" /> A doctor later recounted feeling "annoyed" at Norris's slow reaction to the collapse.<ref name="annoyed">{{cite news |title=Patient collapsed... just as the accused predicted |work=Yorkshire Post |date=4 March 2008}}</ref> An anonymous male nurse called Hall's son from the hospital at 5:30 a.m. that morning telling him that she had taken a "turn for the worse", and it was not established who this man was.<ref>{{cite news |title=Doctor raised murder alarm at shock coma |work=Yorkshire Evening Post |date=31 October 2007}}</ref><ref name="Manufactured" /> The next night, Norris specifically called the ward to ask what had happened to Hall.<ref>{{cite news |title=Murder-charge nurse 'predicted time of trouble' |work=Yorkshire Post |date=3 November 2007}}</ref> |
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A blood sample was taken from Hall after a doctor raised concerns and ordered blood tests, and her blood was found to contain an inexplicably massive amount of insulin – 1000 units in just one sample – and this became the main hard evidence in the police case.<ref name="RealCrimedocumentary" /><ref name="paperwork" /> The doctor who had ordered the tests was a [[diabetes]] expert who specialised in insulin and hypoglycaemic episodes, and she had believed the incident to be suspicious.<ref name="Nurses Who Kill" /> No doctor or medical staff member had prescribed her this drug, and she had no condition that required it to be issued.<ref name="Nurses Who Kill" /><ref name="Noneed">{{cite news |title=Nurse 'killed four elderly patients with insulin shots' |work=Yorkshire Post |date=17 October 2007}}</ref> The amount of insulin in Hall's blood was about 12 times the normal level, and it had been injected into her system.<ref name="Guilty verdict">{{cite news |title=Nurse guilty of killing patients |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/7267409.stm |access-date=23 March 2021 |work=BBC News |date=3 March 2008}}</ref><ref name="Injected">{{cite news |last1=Simpson |first1=Cameron |title=Scots nurse charged with killing patients; Father's shock at murder allegations |work=The Herald |date=14 October 2005 |page=2}}</ref> The insulin was manufactured and not produced naturally in the body.<ref name="Manufactured">{{cite news |title=Patient's son 'told of insulin discovery in body' |work=Yorkshire Post |date=31 October 2007}}</ref> It had been injected into her abdomen, as indicated by the fact that a bulge was found under her skin there that was consistent with a large injection of fluid.<ref name="Turnedkiller" /><ref name="Bulge">{{cite news |title=Patient, 86 must have been murdered, says QC |work=Yorkshire Post |date=19 October 2007}}</ref><ref name="Noranyoneelse" /> Doctors believed it was done by someone with nursing or medical experience.<ref name="Turnedkiller" /><ref name="Noranyoneelse" /> The results of the tests led the hospital to contact the police.<ref name="Luckrunout" /> |
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It was discovered after Hall's death that insulin had also been taken from the storage fridge, and Norris later admitted that he was the last person to have accessed this fridge before Hall had been injected with insulin.<ref name="RealCrimedocumentary" /> Two [[vials]] of insulin were found to have been taken from the fridge, which had to have been taken by someone during the night shift which Norris was working when Hall became unwell.<ref name="Nurses Who Kill" /> Norris had on a previous occasion been caught stealing drugs from the hospital.<ref name="Nurses Who Kill" /> Norris also admitted that he was the last person to see Hall at 4.30 a.m., half an hour before she fell into the coma at around 5 a.m.<ref name="RealCrimedocumentary" /> |
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===Previous cases=== |
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{{Multiple image|perrow=1/1 |
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| total_width = 250 |
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| image1 = LGI Old Building 1 12 June 2015.jpg |
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| image2 = Jimmys Entrance 2008.jpg |
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| footer = [[Leeds General Infirmary]] and [[St James's University Hospital]], where Norris worked and where the murders were committed. Norris was the only member of staff who worked on the wards at both hospitals where the murders occurred. |
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}} |
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Norris immediately came under suspicion and was questioned by police about Hall's murder.<ref name="RealCrimedocumentary" /><ref name="GoingOff" /> It was further decided to investigate the deaths of 72 people who had died on the ward while Norris was working, and a special medical panel decided that 18 of the 72 deaths should be reviewed by independent medical experts.<ref name="RealCrimedocumentary" /> The experts confirmed police suspicions that the deaths of three women were as a result of lethal injections of insulin, which causes [[hypoglycaemic]] attacks, but they also identified two more victims, one who had also died of insulin poisoning and another who had survived a massive injected overdose.<ref name="RealCrimedocumentary" /><ref name=Times>{{cite news| url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/killer-nurse-colin-norris-must-serve-at-least-30-years-wpk550v8j3s | newspaper=The Times | location=London | title=Killer nurse Colin Norris must serve at least 30 years | first=Russell | last=Jenkins | date=5 March 2008 | access-date=30 August 2022|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Along with Ethel Hall, none of these women were [[diabetic]] (nor was anyone else on the ward), and all of them had been admitted to the wards simply suffering from broken hips.<ref name="Timeline" /><ref name="Noranyoneelse">{{cite news |last1=Thornton |first1=Lucy |title=Someone always died when I worked nights; Nurse Murdered Four, Jury Hear |newspaper=Daily Mirror |date=17 October 2007 |page=23}}</ref> In any case, the amount of insulin Hall had been injected with was far in excess of what a diabetic patient would need.<ref name="GoingOff" /> They were also all murdered while in non-emergency [[orthopaedic]] wards, where only minor, non life-threatening things such as broken bones are treated.<ref name="Orthopaedic">{{cite news |last1=Waites |first1=Mike |title=Male nurse charged with murders of four hospital patients |work=Yorkshire Post |date=13 October 2005}}</ref> When questioned about the cases Norris said "he seemed to have been unlucky over the last 12 months."<ref name=Telegraph/> |
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The first three incidents occurred at Leeds General Infirmary.<ref name="Contact" /> They began in May 2002, which also notably happened to be when the detailed probationary monitoring of Norris's early progress as a newly qualified nurse ended.<ref name="probation">{{cite news |title=Did another rogue nurse inspire plot to steal fatal drugs? |work=Yorkshire Post |date=4 March 2008}}</ref> On 17 May 2002, Norris injected patient Vera Wilby with an overdose of the painkiller [[morphine]] to make her drowsy (as recorded in the hospital notes and later admitted by Norris<ref name="ease"/>), despite the fact that she was in no pain and needed no morphine.<ref name="Timeline"/><ref name="probation" /> He then administered insulin before going off shift, for no apparent medical reason.<ref name="Timeline" /> Ninety minutes after he went off shift, Wilby was found to be semi-conscious and suffering from a sudden [[hypoglycaemic]] attack, but she survived.<ref name="Timeline" /> Wilby had [[dementia]] and had been seen as a "difficult" patient by Norris.<ref name="Burden">{{cite news |last1=Heffernan |first1=Catherine |title=Ward nurse accused of killing four patients: Murders committed using insulin, court told: Victims 'could be regarded as burden to staff' |newspaper=The Guardian |date=17 October 2007 |page=13}}</ref> On 12 June, another patient, Doris Ludlam, was admitted to Norris's ward with a broken hip.<ref name="Timeline" /> On 25 June, she was also given an unnecessary injection of morphine (as recorded in the hospital notes and later admitted by Norris<ref name="ease"/>) followed by an overdose of insulin, and Norris then again went off shift.<ref name="Timeline" /><ref name="Burden" /> She was discovered in a [[coma]] 40 minutes after he went off shift.<ref name="Timeline" /> 88-year-old Bridget Bourke, who had been admitted to the ward on 16 June also with a broken hip, was then discovered at 3:10 a.m. on 21 July (by Norris) suffering from a hypoglycaemic attack; she died the next day.<ref name="Timeline" /><ref name="Burden" /> |
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Norris was then transferred to [[St James's University Hospital]], and on 10 October 2002, 79-year-old Irene Crookes was admitted to Norris's new ward with a broken hip.<ref name="Timeline" /><ref name="Contact" /> Despite Norris recording that her condition was improving, he supposedly found her "totally unresponsive" just before 6 a.m. on 19 October, having suffered a hypoglycaemic attack.<ref name="Timeline" /> She died the next day.<ref name="Timeline" /> It was deemed significant{{By whom|date=July 2024}} that the bizarre cases of hypoglycaemia appeared to follow Norris when he transferred to the new {{nowrap|hospital{{hsp}}{{mdash}}{{2px}}}}especially since he was the only staff member who had been transferred.<ref name="Contact" /> He was the only staff member who worked on both the wards in the two hospitals where all the hypoglycaemic incidents were occurring.<ref name="79birthday"/> A colleague later stated that Norris had shown no desire to revive Crookes after she fell into a coma.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Accused nurse predicted patients' time of death |journal=Nursing Standard |date=October 2007 |volume=22 |issue=7 |page=6}}</ref> Another colleague also later testified that Norris had watched in "detached amusement" after one of the victims had fallen into a coma.<ref name="Harrison" /> She said that "everything he did that night had to be prompted".<ref name="runout">{{cite news |last1=Stokes |first1=Paul |title=Nurse 'amused' by patient's coma |newspaper=The Telegraph |date=18 October 2007 |page=19}}</ref> Significantly, it was discovered by a member of staff that they had suddenly run out of insulin after Crooke's hypoglycaemic attack.<ref name="runout" /> |
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It is believed that by the time Hall was killed, Norris had become confident he could carry on killing without being caught, since no blood tests for insulin had been done.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Thornton |first1=Lucy |title=Someone Always Dies When I Work Nights; Murder trial is told of nurse's claim |newspaper=Daily Record |date=17 October 2007 |page=7}}</ref><ref name="Burden" /><ref name="Luckrunout">{{cite news |last1=Norfolk |first1=Andrew |title=Nurse accused of serial killing 'made chilling prediction of death at 5.15' |newspaper=The Times |date=17 October 2007 |page=3}}</ref> He would not have expected, therefore, a blood sample to be taken from Hall and sent to a specialist laboratory as it was, which finally led to him being caught,<ref name="Luckrunout" /> expecting the death would be considered due to [[natural causes]].<ref name="Noneed" /> |
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None of the patients had been prescribed insulin by any doctors or medical staff members in the hospital.<ref name="Nurses Who Kill" /> All the victims were considered somewhat "difficult" patients, which likely irritated Norris with his dislike for elderly patients.<ref name="Burden" /><ref name="Nurses Who Kill" /> One of the women had been throwing her bedclothes off just before he killed her.<ref>{{cite news |title=Nurse convicted of killing four patients |work=UPI |date=3 March 2008}}</ref> Bourke was on Norris's ward at the same time as Ludlam and Wilby, meaning he had contact with all three at the same time.<ref name="Contact">{{cite news |last1=Howie |first1=Michael |title=Scots nurse accused of murder by insulin |newspaper=The Scotsman |date=17 October 2007 |page=1}}</ref> In each case, the fatal dose of insulin had been administered at night, when Norris worked.<ref name="Burden" /> At the time of Hall's death, Norris suspiciously said to colleagues: "it is always in the morning when things go wrong" and "someone always dies when I do nights".<ref name=Telegraph>{{cite news |
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| url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1580554/Colin-Norris-Angel-of-Death-nurse-convicted.html?WT.mc_id=tmgoff_psc_ppc_performancemax_dynamiclandingpages&gclid=Cj0KCQiA-oqdBhDfARIsAO0TrGE8NPIRNn3O5HxhP1ZRGFWf7NNHflKlR3bWtg2WRNVQsXxhUqIBaqYaAjYUEALw_wcB |
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| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080315010951/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2008%2F03%2F03%2Fnnurse503.xml |
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| archive-date = 15 March 2008 |
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| title = Colin Norris, 'Angel of Death' nurse, convicted |
| title = Colin Norris, 'Angel of Death' nurse, convicted |
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| accessdate = 2008 |
| accessdate = 3 March 2008 |
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| newspaper = [[The Daily Telegraph]] |
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| date = 2008 |
| date = 3 March 2008 |
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| first = Tom |
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| last = Chivers |
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}}</ref> When questioned by police about this and three other patients who had died while he was on duty, he said "he seemed to have been unlucky over the last 12 months".<ref name=Telegraph/> The four patients were 79, 80, 86 and 88 years old.<ref name=Times>http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article3481873.ece</ref> The police investigated 72 cases in total.<ref name=Times/> |
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| location = London |
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}}</ref> He also would have known doctors were not on duty overnight at the hospitals, so they couldn't help the patients when they all collapsed during Norris's night shifts.<ref name="Luckrunout" /> Amongst the things the victims all had in common was that they were all frail women and that they all died after suffering broken hips.<ref name="Luckrunout" /> |
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==Investigation== |
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It was found that the only nurse that had cared for all five of the patients and had been there within 2 hours of them becoming catastrophically ill was Norris.<ref name="RealCrimedocumentary" /> Norris had been one of the few who was on duty at the time of Hall's deterioration in health.<ref name="RealCrimedocumentary" /> Police analysed medical staff rotas, phone records and personnel files to determine who had access to the wards, insulin and who was on the wards at the time of that incident, and it was found that all staff members except Norris could be ruled out as it was only Norris who was on duty when all the incidents occurred.<ref name="RealCrimedocumentary" /><ref name="Nurses Who Kill" /> He was also the only staff member who worked on both the wards where the incidents occurred.<ref name="79birthday"/> Norris admitted predicting the time of Hall's death to his colleague but said it was because he had a "black sense of humour".<ref name="RealCrimedocumentary" /> Investigators ordered the exhumation of the body of Bridget Bourke, which, significantly, revealed that she had been given large amounts of insulin.<ref name="runout" /> The other two patients who had died had their bodies cremated, so could not be tested.<ref name="runout" /> |
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Norris was suspended from his job (on full pay) while the police investigation was carried out.<ref name="probation" /><ref name="ETCharged" /> After he was first arrested, Norris immediately left Leeds and went back to Scotland, before then leaving the UK eight times to go abroad, including to [[Tenerife]] for a six-month holiday.<ref name="ETCharged">{{cite news |title=Glasgow Nurse, 29 Charged with Killing 4 Patients; Man appears in court over deaths of frail pensioners in hospital |work=Evening Times (Glasgow) |date=13 October 2005 |page=1}}</ref><ref name="proud"/> After his conviction his partner recounted an incident around this time when Norris became violent and drunk, and wouldn't stop crying because he said he was scared of going to prison.<ref name="neveragain"/> Norris's mother defended her son's trips around Europe, saying he was "trying to live his life the best he could while under the pressure of a police investigation".<ref name="proud"/> |
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When police questioned Norris about the fact that the vials of insulin, the murder weapon in Hall's case, had gone missing from the fridge that morning when Hall was killed, he responded by saying: "obviously if someone was to kill someone, they wouldn't leave their signature would they? To say that they were there."<ref name="RealCrimedocumentary" /> He denied ever injecting Hall with insulin.<ref name="Noneed" /> The police were dismissive of Norris's claim that an intruder must have come in during the nightshift through the fire escape while nurses were having a cigarette before injecting Hall.<ref name="Intruder">{{cite news |title=Murder accused nurse: 'I wouldn't put lives at risk' |work=Yorkshire Evening Post |date=19 October 2007}}</ref> Norris said this despite revealing he had never once seen an intruder on the ward.<ref name="Intruder" /> Detectives believed this suggestion that an intruder had sneaked onto a bay at night to inject a patient before sneaking away without anybody realising (since no other staff member could have been responsible) was highly implausible.<ref name="RealCrimedocumentary" /> |
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Norris behaved bizarrely in the interviews he had with the police.<ref name="Nurses Who Kill" /> Throughout the interviews he acted notably aggressively and arrogantly, challenging detectives, and became physically angry at times to the point where he had to be restrained.<ref name="Nurses Who Kill" /> Investigators stated that Norris did not seem to be explicitly denying the murders, but insisting that they could not be proved, demanding officers told him how he did it and saying that he didn't think their facts were "good enough" to prove he had killed them.<ref name="RealCrimedocumentary" /> Criminologist Jane Monkton-Smith said it was particularly unusual that Norris didn't behave as if he wanted to defend himself in interviews, but instead challenged the police and acted evasively.<ref name="Nurses Who Kill" /> Norris later admitted that he was trying to show how much more he knew than the police in interviews.<ref name="Nurses Who Kill" /> In 2004, during the investigation, he walked into the offices of the ''[[Yorkshire Evening Post]]'' and declared that the police had "nothing on him" to reporters.<ref name="nothingonme">{{cite news |title=Evil killer gets 30 year minimum sentence |work=Yorkshire Evening Post |date=4 March 2008}}</ref> |
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Chief superintendent on the case [[Chris Gregg]], holder of the [[Queen's Police Medal]] and who caught [[David Bieber]], '[[Wearside Jack]]' and the killer of [[Leanne Tiernan]], said that Norris's prediction of Hall's illness showed that it wasn't just a spontaneous incident where a criminal nurse at work had, for whatever reason decided to kill someone, saying "he actually premeditated this, hours before". Gregg said: "I think he was cocky; I think he was over-confident. He was showing off".<ref name="RealCrimedocumentary" /> A [[criminal psychologist]] stated that, despite Norris's prediction, it was unlikely that he wanted to get caught, rather that he merely wanted to demonstrate a sense of superior knowledge.<ref name="RealCrimedocumentary" /> Police noted that, in interviews, Norris showed no empathy for the women who had died or for their families, and claimed he couldn't remember any of the women.<ref name="RealCrimedocumentary" /> |
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==Trial== |
==Trial== |
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Norris, recorded as being of Egilsay Terrace, [[Glasgow]],<ref>{{cite news |title=Nurse charged |work=Liverpool Echo |date=13 October 2005 |page=8}}</ref> went to trial in 2007 at [[Newcastle Crown Court]]. Norris's father did not object to the decision to charge his son, whom he described as "scum".<ref name="Dad">{{cite news |title=Dad slams his murder accused son |work=Evening Times (Glasgow) |date=14 October 2005 |page=2}}</ref> At trial Norris denied ever having predicted Hall's death, despite having admitted this in police interviews.<ref name="Intruder" /> He admitted giving Vera Wilby and Doris Ludlam overdoses of [[morphine]] on 17 May and 25 June 2002 respectively (police had found these injections recorded by him in the hospital records).<ref name="ease">{{cite news |title=I was only trying to ease their pain |work=Yorkshire Post |date=5 February 2008}}</ref> He had given Ludlam twice the allowed dose of morphine.<ref name="twice">{{cite news |title=Murder accused nurse denies becoming confident |work=Yorkshire Evening Post |date=8 February 2008}}</ref> It was highlighted that, when police first interviewed him, Norris had not mentioned the cases of Ludlam, Bourke and Crookes when he was asked if he had ever had experience of patients falling into hypoglycaemic comas, even though that is what they had experienced when Norris was on duty.<ref name="refutes" /> Police said they believed this was done on purpose so he didn't arouse suspicion about those cases at that stage, since they had not yet been uncovered by investigators.<ref name="refutes" /> It was also brought to the jury's attention that documents had been found at Norris's home detailing a less painful way of injecting morphine.<ref>{{cite news |title=I have never killed anyone, nurse tells jury |work=Yorkshire Post |date=8 February 2008}}</ref> Norris claimed, despite the blood test evidence, that none of the patients had been injected and if they were then an 'intruder' must have done it (since records showed no other staff member could have been responsible).<ref name="refutes">{{cite news |title=Nurse refutes killing patients |work=Yorkshire Evening Post |date=6 February 2008}}</ref> This is despite the fact that the insulin fridge, where the drug had apparently been taken from, had a coded access and only medical staff could access it.<ref name="nothingonme"/> |
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The trial took 19 weeks and the [[jury]] deliberated for 4 days. Norris was convicted on [[3 March]], [[2008]] of the murder of four women, and the [[attempted murder]] of a fifth aged 90.<ref>{{Cite web |
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| url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/7267409.stm |
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Norris was convicted by an 11-1 [[Hung jury#United Kingdom#England and Wales|majority verdict]]<ref name="RealCrimedocumentary" /> on 3 March 2008 for the murder of four women, and the [[attempted murder]] of a fifth (Vera Wilby, aged 90).<ref name="Guilty verdict"/> He was sentenced the following day to [[life imprisonment]], and ordered to serve a minimum term of 30 years in prison.<ref>{{cite news |
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| title = Nurse guilty of killing patients |
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| publisher = [[BBC News]] |
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| accessdate = 2008-03-03 |
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| date = 2008-03-03 |
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}}</ref> He was sentenced to [[life imprisonment]], and ordered to serve a minimum term of 30 years in prison the following day.<ref>{{Cite web |
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| url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/7276700.stm |
| url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/7276700.stm |
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| title = Killer nurse must serve 30 years |
| title = Killer nurse must serve 30 years |
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| publisher = [[BBC News]] |
| publisher = [[BBC News]] |
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| date = 2008 |
| date = 4 March 2008 |
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| accessdate = 2008 |
| accessdate = 4 March 2008 |
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}}</ref> |
}}</ref> Norris had acted particularly aggressively throughout the trial, banging on the windows of the judge and attacking members of the press when departing the court, shoving two against a wall.<ref name="RealCrimedocumentary" /><ref name="Shipmanmotive"/> Pictures of these attacks were not shown on television for fear of influencing the jury.<ref name="Shipmanmotive"/> The judge told Norris when sentencing: <blockquote>"You are, I have absolutely no doubt, a thoroughly evil and dangerous man. You are an arrogant and manipulative man with a real dislike of elderly patients. The most telling evidence was that observation of one of your patients, Bridget Tarpey, who said 'he did not like us old women'. My view is you did not like them because they required too much nursing and were too demanding of your time. You are in my judgment essentially lazy as evidenced by your absences from student placements and work."<ref name=Times/></blockquote> |
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Norris's mother June Morrison said she was "so proud of him".<ref name="proud">{{cite news |last1=MacAskill |first1=Grace |title=I Was So Proud; Exclusive: Mum on Perfect Son Turned Mass Killer |work=Glasgow Mail |date=9 March 2008 |page=4}}</ref> |
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Referred to in the British [[News media|press]] as the "Angel of Death", Norris was convicted of killing his victims by injecting them with high levels of [[insulin]].<ref name=Telegraph/> The four victims were:<ref name="Timeline">{{cite news |title=Colin Norris, Angel of Death nurse: Timeline |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1580552/Colin-Norris-Angel-of-Death-nurse-Timeline.html |work=The Telegraph |url-access=subscription}}</ref> |
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*Doris Ludlam, died 27 June 2002. |
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*Bridget Bourke, died 22 July 2002. |
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*Irene Crooks, died 20 October 2002. |
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*Ethel Hall, died 11 December 2002. |
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All of these victims had been killed in Norris's first year of working as a nurse.<ref name="RealCrimedocumentary" /> Hall was a mother of one and a grandmother of two.<ref name="Grandmother">{{cite news |last1=Bruce |first1=David |title=Victims who never came out of hospital |newspaper=Yorkshire Evening Post |date=13 October 2005}}</ref> Ludlam was a mother of two, a grandmother and great-grandmother who had worked as a nursery school teacher and fostered children for the charity [[Barnardo's]].<ref name="Grandmother" /> Wilby was a vulnerable widow.<ref name="Grandmother" /> Crooks died on her 79th birthday, unable to ever open her cards or presents.<ref name="79birthday">{{cite news |title=On her 79th birthday, patient's cards lay unopened |work=Yorkshire Post |date=4 March 2008}}</ref> Hall's son Stuart expressed his relief at Norris's conviction, stating: "I think he needs to be kept inside".<ref name="RealCrimedocumentary" /> He added: "He has got the knowledge to kill people and to do it discreetly. That makes him a danger to society and he must be kept inside. We hope Colin Norris never leaves prison and can never harm anyone else again."<ref name="neveragain">{{cite news |last1=Burns |first1=Janice |title=You're an Evil and Dangerous Man; Angel of death caged for 30 years |newspaper=Daily Record |date=5 March 2008 |page=9}}</ref><ref name="God">{{cite news |last1=White |first1=Stephen |title='He is evil .. he was trying to play God': Fury of Families Nurse Murdered 4 Women |newspaper=Daily Mirror |date=4 March 2008 |page=15}}</ref><ref name="annoyed"/> |
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After the verdict was announced, [[Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust]] apologised to the victims' families for Norris's "disturbing" crimes, subsequently describing him as an "extremely dangerous criminal".<ref name="Guilty verdict" /> In 2009, the [[Nursing and Midwifery Council]] struck off Norris from the medical register, taking just five minutes to come to a decision on the matter.<ref>{{cite news |title=Killer nurse struck off register |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/8008259.stm |work=BBC}}</ref> |
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Norris was imprisoned in [[HM Prison Frankland]] as of 2019.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/killer-nurse-who-poisoned-patients-15636763|title=Killer nurse starts prison foodbank that feeds County Durham families|first1=Kali|last1=Lindsay|first2=Dan|last2=Warburton|date=6 January 2019|work=ChronicleLive|accessdate=22 April 2021}}</ref> |
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==Other suspected victims== |
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After the trial, Chris Gregg revealed that he and the other detectives believed Norris had been responsible for up to six other deaths at the hospitals.<ref name="six">{{cite news |last1=Burns |first1=Janice |title=Angel of Death; Scots nurse guilty of murdering 4 frail old ladies with drug |work=Daily Record |date=4 March 2008 |page=1}}</ref><ref name="three">{{cite news |last1=Stokes |first1=Paul |title=Nurse killed night shift 'nuisances' |work=The Telegraph |date=4 March 2008}}</ref> He was the only nurse on duty when three other suspicious deaths occurred, but police felt there was not enough evidence to pursue convictions for them.<ref name="Britten">{{cite news |last1=Stokes |first1=Paul |last2=Britten |first2=Nick |title=Nurse killed night shift 'nuisances' |work=The Telegraph |date=4 March 2008}}</ref> Norris had also been arrested for another death of a patient, but the [[Crown Prosecution Service]] decided not to charge him in this case because of "complicating factors".<ref name="6thvictim">{{cite news |last1=Norfolk |first1=Andrew |last2=Jenkins |first2=Russell |title=Nurse was a serial killer in the process of perfecting his craft |work=The Times |date=4 March 2008 |page=9}}</ref> In two other suspicious cases, the fact that there had been no post-mortem examinations prevented enough evidence being accumulated to charge Norris for their deaths.<ref name="6thvictim"/> |
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==Motive== |
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{{Location map many | Scotland Glasgow |
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| width = 200 |
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| float = right |
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| caption = Norris grew up very close to [[Ruchill Hospital]], where the infamous [[Jessie McTavish]] incident occurred in the 1970s |
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| label = Milton |
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| pos = top |
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| marksize = 8 |
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| label_size = 100 |
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| coordinates = {{coord|55.900754|-4.246217}} |
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| label2 = Ruchill Hospital |
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| pos2 = left |
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| mark2size = 8 |
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| mark7 = Green pog.svg |
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| label2_size = 100 |
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| coordinates2 = {{coord|55.8888|-4.2640}} |
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}} |
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[[File:Skyline of northern Glasgow, from the former site of Ruchill Hospital.png|thumb|300px|right|The site of the former [[Ruchill Hospital]] in Glasgow in 2021 (today only the water tower remains), which is where the Jessie McTavish incident infamously occurred. Norris lived in Milton on the left of the image.]] |
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{{See also|Jessie McTavish}} |
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[[Jessie McTavish]], a nurse convicted and then controversially cleared of the 1974 murder of an 80-year-old patient with [[insulin]], has been identified as the likely inspiration for Norris.<ref name="from student" /> She had worked at [[Ruchill Hospital]] in Glasgow, less than a mile from where Norris grew up.<ref name="Ruchill">{{cite news |last1=Leask |first1=David |title=Did Sister Jessie's story influence carer who used insulin to kill? |work=The Herald |date=4 March 2008 |page=5}}</ref> She had been released on appeal after her defence team successfully argued that the trial judge had inadvertently misled the jury in his final summing up, even though the appeal court judges said that it was something a "few words could have cured" and that there was enough evidence to support the prosecution.<ref name="from student" /> Norris's personal tutor at university gave a specific talk to him and other students on her case on 11 January 2001, a year before Norris committed his first attack, in which Norris used the same method as McTavish had been accused of using.<ref name="Timeline" /><ref>{{cite news|title=The hatred that turned Colin Norris into serial killer|url=https://www.scotsman.com/news/hatred-turned-colin-norris-serial-killer-2478080|access-date=1 December 2020|newspaper=The Scotsman|date=3 March 2008 }}</ref><ref name="from student"/><ref name="January2001">{{cite news |title=Legacy of a lecture on Sister Jessie; The Inspiration 'Decent Young Man' Was Serial Killer Who Showed No Remorse for His Murder Spree |newspaper=Daily Record |date=4 March 2008 |page=7}}</ref> Norris was tasked with "reviewing" her conduct, and in doing so, he would have learned that insulin is the perfect weapon for murder because it leaves the blood very quickly.<ref name="reviewing">{{cite news |title=Murder accused nurse: 'I don't like old people' |newspaper=Yorkshire Evening Post |date=16 October 2007}}</ref><ref name="January2001" /> Just like Norris, McTavish had 'predicted' the exact time when a healthy patient would die.<ref name="LikeMcTavish">{{cite news |last1=Stokes |first1=Paul |title=Nurse murdered elderly patients who were a nuisance on the night shift |date=4 March 2008 |page=8}}</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=August 2023}} She was able to continue her career in nursing after she was released on appeal.<ref name="Ruchill" /> Norris had notably also attended lectures in 1999 on [[diabetes]] and the treatment of diabetic patients with insulin, where he learned about the consequences of blood sugars being too high or too low.<ref name="Timeline" /><ref name="Toohigh">{{cite news |title=Nurse 'didn't like geriatric patients' |work=Yorkshire Post |date=19 October 2007}}</ref> |
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[[Forensic psychiatrist]] Sir Richard Badcock, the only psychiatrist to formally assess the serial killer doctor [[Harold Shipman]], stated his belief that Norris was a [[psychopath]], who killed elderly patients simply because they got in his way.<ref name="RealCrimedocumentary" /> Just like Norris, Shipman's motive was not immediately clear.<ref name="Shipmanmotive">{{cite news |last1=Brown |first1=Craig |title=Guilty of murdering four elderly patients - and he was only halted by vigilance of doctor |work=The Scotsman |date=4 March 2008 |page=4}}</ref> Chris Gregg said that he believed that Norris decided to poison the women simply because he found elderly patients irritating.<ref name="RealCrimedocumentary" /> Psychologist and senior lecturer at [[Manchester Metropolitan University]] Dr David Holmes concluded that Norris was searching for a sense of power, since a medical staff member like him "administers literally life and death to affirm their own status or self-appointed status".<ref name="ManMet">{{cite news |title=Why did a nurse turn to murder? |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/7268730.stm |access-date=8 August 2022 |work=BBC News |date=3 March 2008}}</ref> High-profile criminologist [[David Wilson (criminologist)|David Wilson]] commented on the case of Norris and other recently convicted serial killers by saying: "What's happening at the moment is that new groups are emerging as being vulnerable to attack".<ref>{{cite news |last1=McDonald |first1=Barry |title='Serial Killers? We're Making It Easier for Them' Mass murderers always target the same five types of people , says Professor David Wilson. So why do we still not see them coming? Interview |newspaper=The Herald |date=17 October 2009 |page=20}}</ref> |
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==Aftermath== |
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===Failed 2009 appeal=== |
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Norris appealed against his conviction in 2009.<ref name="appeal">{{cite news |title=Killer nurse loses appeal against conviction |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/8424131.stm |work=BBC|accessdate=23 April 2021}}</ref> Originally, Norris planned to appeal on the grounds that the trial judge had shown a "lack of balance", but then scrapped these plans and sacked his legal team.<ref name="appeal" /><ref name="sacks">{{cite news |title=Killer nurse sacks lawyers |newspaper=Daily Record |date=30 January 2009 |page=33}}</ref> He subsequently appealed on the grounds that the judge had "misdirected" the jury in his final summary but he lost this appeal, with judge Lord Justice Aikens ruling the convictions were "safe" and saying that the case against Norris was "very strong indeed".<ref name="appeal" /> The appeal court rejected both grounds of the appeal, saying that the judge's directions "cannot validly be criticised" and that there was no misdirection to the jury.<ref name="appeal" /> The appeal court instead said that the judge's summary in the original case was an exemplary "tour de force".<ref name="Nurses Who Kill" /> The judges also refused to believe that the deaths were "coincidental".<ref name="notcoincidence">{{cite news |last1=McIntosh |first1=Lindsay |title=Killer nurse jailed for 30 years loses appeal |work=The Times |date=22 December 2009 |page=18}}</ref> Norris's defence team had argued that the deaths could have been the result of 'naturally' raised insulin levels caused by severe spontaneous hypoglycaemia, but the judges rejected this possibility.<ref name="notcoincidence"/> |
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===Inquiry=== |
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In 2010, an independent inquiry into Norris's murders was held.<ref name="2010journal">{{cite journal |last1=Dean |first1=Erin |title=Serial killer inquiry prompts call for student practice passports |journal=Nursing Standard |date=February 2010 |volume=24 |issue=22 |page=6|doi=10.7748/ns.24.45.6.s4 }}</ref> The inquiry recommended the introduction of 'student practice passports', which would report on the personality and integrity of students while they trained as medical professionals at university.<ref name="2010journal" /> It was felt that this may have flagged up Norris as an issue earlier had they been in use at the time of his studying, since he had knowingly acted aggressively during placements, had a poor absence record and had clashed with tutors on numerous occasions.<ref name="RealCrimedocumentary" /><ref name="2010journal" /> These 'passports', it was argued, would allow universities to evaluate at the end of a student's course whether the individual was fit to join the medical register.<ref name="2010journal" /> The inquiry found that the University of Dundee had not identified Norris's difficulties in its reference to employers, and the inquiry concluded that organisational, systems and cultural factors provided an opportunity for Norris to murder the four women in 2002.<ref name="2010journal" /> Nurse managers had already been urged after Norris's conviction in 2008 to take greater care when recruiting staff, and NHS employers had introduced new guidance on pre-employment checks.<ref name="Harrison">{{cite journal |last1=Harrison |first1=Sarah |title=Tougher pre-employment checks not expected to prevent murders |journal=Nursing Standard |date=March 2008 |volume=22 |issue=27 |page=10}}</ref> |
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===Claims of innocence=== |
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On 4 October 2011 the [[BBC]] reported that retired Professor Vincent Marks – a leading expert on [[insulin]] poisoning – was concerned about Norris's conviction. He had been asked by the Norris family to find evidence in the case.<ref name="Marks">{{cite news |title=Colin Norris: Expert hope for Leeds hospital murderer |work=Yorkshire Evening Post |date=4 October 2011}}</ref> He claimed the jury at Norris's trial was wrongly led to believe by experts that a cluster of [[hypoglycaemic]] episodes, among people who were not diabetic, was sinister. After carrying out his own studies, he said: "Looking at all the evidence, all I can say is I think Colin Norris's conviction is [[Miscarriage of justice|unsafe]]".<ref name="Marks"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-15068743|title=Colin Norris jury 'misled' says insulin expert|publisher=bbc.co.uk|date=4 October 2011|accessdate=19 March 2021}}</ref> He claimed that his own studies had shown that up to 1 in 10 of hypoglycaemia episodes in elderly people were caused naturally. |
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Marks said the four patients picked out by the experts after Mrs Hall's death "were all at very high risk of developing spontaneous hypoglycaemia" because they had risk factors such as malnutrition, infection and [[Multiple organ dysfunction syndrome|multi-organ failure]].<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-15068743 | work=The BBC | location=London | title=Colin Norris case: Murder convictions 'unsafe' | date=4 October 2011 | accessdate=19 October 2011}}</ref> |
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In 2011 Louise Shorter, the former producer of [[BBC]]'s ''[[Rough Justice (British TV programme)|Rough Justice]]'', and journalist Mark Daly produced the documentary ''A Jury in the Dark'', arguing that there were logical, non-criminal explanations for all the deaths.<ref name=Daly>{{cite news| url=http://www.insidetime.org/articleview.asp?a=1047&c=hospital_serial_killer_a_jury_in_the_dark | work=Inside Time | location=London | title=Hospital Serial Killer: A Jury in the Dark | date=October 2011 | accessdate=16 July 2013}}</ref> They and Marks claimed that Ethel Hall's hypoglycaemic arrest could have been caused naturally by '[[auto-immune disease|auto-immune syndrome]]'.<ref name="Marks"/> The possibility of auto-immune syndrome having caused the women's arrests had also already been considered and rejected at the trial.<ref name="Marks"/> During research for the film, Daly discovered an additional death at Leeds General Infirmary which police had initially been investigating as a potential murder carried out by a male nurse, however; the death "went from suspicious to non-suspicious", when police learned that Norris was not on duty at the time.<ref name= Campbell>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/law/2013/may/20/fresh-evidence-angel-of-death-colin-norris| newspaper=The Guardian | title=Fresh evidence challenges 'Angel of Death' nurse Colin Norris's conviction| date=20 May 2013 | accessdate=16 July 2013}}</ref> Norris's mother has tried to prove her son innocent, saying: "Either I am the mother of Scotland's worst serial killer or mother to the victim of the country's most terrible [[miscarriage of justice]]".<ref>{{cite news |title=Colin Norris: 'Angel of Death' nurse case goes back to Appeal judges |url=https://www.thejusticegap.com/colin-norris-angel-of-death-nurse-case-goes-back-to-appeal-judges/ |access-date=7 August 2022 |work=The Justice Gap |date=15 February 2021}}</ref><ref name="June">{{cite news |last1=McGivern |first1=Mark |title=My Son Is Not the Angel of Death My Son; Breaking Her Silence Scots Nurse's Shattered Mum |newspaper=Daily Record |date=26 January 2015 |page=6}}</ref> After watching the BBC programme the sister-in-law of victim Bridget Bourke said that she was still convinced of Norris's guilt.<ref name="June"/> |
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In May 2013 the [[Criminal Cases Review Commission]] confirmed it was re-examining the Norris case in the light of new medical and scientific evidence contradictory to that submitted to the jury during the original trial.<ref name=Campbell/> However, in 2014, the son of victim Vera Wilby, John Barrie Wilby, said that he was "sad and upset" about the claims that Norris may be innocent, and said that he was still convinced of his guilt.<ref>{{cite news |title=He's still guilty: Son of pensioner killed by Leeds nurse Colin Norris after BBC documentary |url=https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/crime/hes-still-guilty-son-pensioner-killed-leeds-nurse-colin-norris-after-bbc-documentary-1828372 |work=Yorkshire Post|accessdate=23 April 2021}}</ref> In the same year there was outrage amongst elderly residents when a benefit concert was held for Norris in Dundee, with a spokesperson of the Dundee Pensioners' Forum stating: "Having a party for someone convicted of murdering all these elderly, vulnerable people is disgraceful. It's a slap in the face doing it, with all those families still grieving their loved ones".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Beatson |first1=Jamie |title=Killer Tunes; Outrage over city benefit concert for serial murderer nurse dubbed the Angel of Death |newspaper=Daily Record |date=15 March 2014 |page=31}}</ref> ''[[The Times]]'' declared he was one of "the 11 most evil staff in the [[NHS]]".<ref name="11NHS">{{cite news |last1=Kennedy |first1=Dominic |title=Revealed: the 11 most evil staff in the NHS |newspaper=The Times |date=8 January 2014 |page=15}}</ref> In January 2015 the foreman of the jury that convicted Norris, after being shown the evidence in the BBC programme, said that he now believes him to be innocent; apparently the second member of the jury to do so (although this would still leave enough jury members to convict him, 10).<ref> |
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{{cite news |
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| url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-31021447 |
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| title = Colin Norris: Juror's doubt over serial killer verdict |
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| publisher = [[BBC News]] |
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| date = 28 January 2015 |
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| accessdate = 8 June 2015 |
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}} |
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</ref><ref name="Foreman">{{cite news |last1=Ferguson |first1=John |title=Juror's Killer Doubt; Angel of Death serial killer given appeal hope |newspaper=Daily Record |date=29 January 2015 |page=23}}</ref> He said that "the evidence shows a murder wasn't committed at all" (although in 2021 the CCRC concluded that Hall's case at least was indeed a clear murder).<ref name="CCRC" /><ref name="Foreman"/> |
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===2021 CCRC referral to Court of Appeal=== |
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The [[Criminal Case Review Commission]] was given scientific information that the test which had established that Ethel Hall's blood was full of insulin was inaccurate, and that it was therefore not possible for her to have been murdered by an overdose of insulin.<ref name="Inaccurate">{{cite news |last1=Kennedy |first1=Dominic |title='Angel of Death' says flawed blood test led to conviction for killing 4 women |work=The Times |date=10 February 2014 |page=22}}</ref> In 2021, the Criminal Case Review Commission discounted this claim when they said that there was "no dispute" that Hall was "murdered by the injection of insulin". The CCRC considered that Norris' conviction for Hall's murder relies on support from the other four convictions and the Crown's claim that no one else apart from Norris was responsible. The commission was "satisfied" that the claim that Norris was solely responsible is "less secure" with the new expert evidence.<ref name="CCRC" /> |
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In February 2021 the CCRC stated that after a "detailed review of this complex and difficult case" they had decided to refer the case to the [[Court of Appeal (England and Wales)|Court of Appeal]].<ref name="CCRC" /> It was said there was a serious possibility that the conviction was unsafe.<ref>{{cite news |title=Colin Norris: Serial killer nurse case referred to Court of Appeal |work=BBC News |date=12 February 2021 |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-43216615 |access-date=22 April 2021}}</ref> As to Ethel Hall, the CCRC said that "there is no dispute that she was murdered by the injection of insulin".<ref name="CCRC">{{cite web |title=Commission refers the murder and attempted murder convictions of Colin Norris to the Court of Appeal |url=https://ccrc.gov.uk/news/commission-refers-the-murder-and-attempted-murder-convictions-of-colin-norris-to-the-court-of-appeal/ |website=CCRC |access-date=7 August 2022 |date=12 February 2021}}</ref> The experts who advised the CCRC said that it was not possible for a natural hypoglycaemic episode to have caused Hall's death, but could not exclude it being a possibility in the other four cases.<ref name="CCRC" /> Norris's defence team stated that Hall's case was a case of natural death, as with the others.<ref name="June"/><ref name="Nurses Who Kill" /> The CCRC said that, in reaching the decision, they had been "greatly assisted" by the evidence of the experts employed by Norris's defence team.<ref name="CCRC" /> |
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==In popular culture== |
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Referred to in the British [[press]] as the "Angel of Death", Norris killed his victims by injecting them with high levels of [[insulin]].<ref name=Telegraph/> Though his victims were women, Norris is gay.<ref name=Telegraph2/><!-- This may seem trivial but I think it is of academic interest and he can therefore be categorised in an LGBT category --> |
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In 2008, Norris's case was the focus of an [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] ''[[Real Crime]]'' documentary.<ref name="RealCrimedocumentary" /> In 2014, Norris was the subject of the BBC ''[[Panorama (British TV programme)|Panorama]]'' documentary "The Innocent Serial Killer?"<ref>{{cite web |title=BBC One - Panorama, the Innocent Serial Killer? |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04vs09g |website=[[BBC News]]}}</ref> |
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==See also== |
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[[Jessie McTavish]], a nurse convicted and then cleared in 1974 for the murder of an 80 year old patient with insulin, has been identified as a possible inspiration for Norris. He once attended a lecture on her case while studying at nursing college.<ref name=Telegraph2/> |
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*[[List of serial killers in the United Kingdom]] |
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==References== |
==References== |
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==External links== |
==External links== |
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*[http://www. |
* [http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Crim/2009/2697.html 2009 Court of Appeal opinion] |
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*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqHdXPiXoWc 2008 ''Real Crime'' documentary on Norris] |
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*[https://player.stv.tv/episode/48cz/dcd-nurses-who-kill 2016 ''Nurses Who Kill'' documentary on Norris, via STV player] |
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*[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-15068743 Convictions Unsafe] |
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Norris, Colin}} |
{{DEFAULTSORT:Norris, Colin}} |
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[[Category:1976 births]] |
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[[Category:21st-century Scottish criminals]] |
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[[Category:British people convicted of attempted murder]] |
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[[Category:Criminals from Glasgow]] |
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[[Category:Male nurses]] |
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[[Category:Medical serial killers]] |
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[[Category:Nurses convicted of killing patients]] |
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[[Category:People convicted of murder by England and Wales]] |
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[[Category:People with antisocial personality disorder]] |
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[[Category:Poisoners]] |
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[[Category:Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by England and Wales]] |
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[[Category:Scottish gay men]] |
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[[Category:Scottish nurses]] |
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[[Category:Scottish people convicted of murder]] |
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[[Category:Scottish prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment]] |
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[[Category:Scottish serial killers]] |
[[Category:Scottish serial killers]] |
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[[Category:LGBT serial killers]] |
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[[Category:Medical practitioners convicted of murdering their patients]] |
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[[Category:Murderers of the elderly]] |
Latest revision as of 10:18, 3 November 2024
Colin Norris | |
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Born | Colin Campbell Norris 12 February 1976 Milton, Glasgow, Scotland |
Criminal charge | Murder (4 counts), attempted murder (1 count) |
Penalty | Life imprisonment with a minimum tariff of 30 years imprisonment |
Details | |
Victims | 4–10 murder victims, 1 victim of attempted murder |
Span of crimes | May – November 2002 |
Country | England |
Location(s) | Leeds General Infirmary and St James's University Hospital, Leeds |
Weapon | Overdoses of insulin |
Date apprehended | 2002 |
Imprisoned at | HM Prison Frankland |
Colin Campbell Norris (born 12 February 1976)[1] is a Scottish serial killer and former nurse convicted for the murder of four elderly patients and the attempted murder of another in two hospitals in Leeds, England, in 2002.
Norris, who self-admittedly disliked elderly patients and had previously stolen hospital drugs, was the only person on duty when all the five patients inexplicably fell into sudden hypoglycaemic comas, despite the non-diabetic women only being in minor injury wards with merely broken hips. Suspicions were raised when Norris predicted that healthy Ethel Hall would die at 5:15 am one night, which is when she fell into a catastrophic arrest, and tests revealed that she had been injected with an extremely high level of man-made insulin. Insulin was missing from the hospital fridge and Norris had last accessed it, only half an hour before Hall fell unconscious.
Subsequent investigations would find that the unnatural hypoglycaemic attacks followed him when he was transferred to a second hospital, and hospital records revealed that only he could not be eliminated as a suspect. Detectives believed that Norris was responsible for up to six other suspicious deaths where only he was always present, but a lack of post mortem evidence and other factors meant that investigators and the Crown Prosecution Service could not pursue convictions for these deaths. The murder inquiry was led by Chris Gregg and the investigation was praised for its thoroughness.
Doubts were later raised about his conviction by, among others, Professor Vincent Marks, an expert on insulin poisoning, who concluded from his own studies that there was a 1 in 10 chance that each patient's arrest could have happened naturally. However, others have pointed out that C-peptides are produced in hypoglycaemic attacks caused by insulin produced naturally in the body, and these were not detected in any of the blood tests of the victims, indicating that the insulin had been introduced to their bodies externally and artificially. Norris lost an appeal against his conviction in 2009. In February 2021 the Criminal Cases Review Commission referred the case back to the Court of Appeal.
Norris is believed to have been inspired by Jessie McTavish, a fellow Scottish nurse who was convicted of murdering a patient with insulin in 1974 before having her conviction quashed in 1975. The incident had happened at Ruchill Hospital in Glasgow, less than a mile from where Norris grew up. Shortly before he qualified as a nurse he had learned about McTavish.[2]
Background
[edit]Norris was born and brought up in the Milton area of Glasgow, Scotland.[citation needed] He originally worked as a travel agent after leaving college, but after a few years in this role decided to retrain as a nurse.[1] Friends described him as someone who loved being centre stage, and said he enjoyed amateur dramatics.[3] His academic record was average, but he became known for being quick to anger and his aggressive confrontations with tutors and, later, employers.[1] His behaviour towards university lecturers at the University of Dundee was described as "unacceptable".[4] He constantly argued with his tutor, and he later said of her: "my tutor and I didn't exactly see eye to eye. I had a personality clash, basically 'cos I had one and she never, and she was my personal tutor."[1] Shortly before he qualified, this tutor was known to have taught Norris about Jessie McTavish, a nurse convicted of murdering a patient with insulin at Ruchill Hospital in Glasgow, less than a mile from where Norris grew up. McTavish's conviction was overturned on appeal.[5] Norris was tasked with "reviewing" her conduct by his tutor.[5] Learning about McTavish would later be regarded as a likely inspiration for Norris, and he would have learned at this point that insulin is the perfect weapon for murder because it leaves the blood very quickly.[5]
Norris began working in Leeds after qualifying in June 2001, but quickly fell out with experienced authority figures, finding it difficult to be told 'no' or what to do.[1][6] Colleagues recounted him saying that he didn't like working on minor injury wards or with old people and wanted to work in the emergency department because it was more 'exciting' for him.[7] He said he "wasn't put on this earth to sit in an office."[1] The hospital later found out that he had been secretly working as a nurse in other hospitals on occasions when he claimed to be off sick or attending a training course.[8]
His former partner said after his conviction that Norris had once hit him during an argument, bruising his head and once threw a bottle at him, which caused him to break up with Norris.[9][10] He also said that, around the time of the murders, Norris had become engrossed by a storyline in Holby City, in which a serial killer nurse played by Rachel Leskovac killed patients with insulin before eventually being uncovered as a murderer.[9] This same storyline is believed to have inspired another UK nurse, Benjamin Geen, to kill his patients.[11] In the month in which he began killing patients with overdoses, Geen appeared in an edition of the Banbury Citizen which featured an interview with Leskovac.[11] Norris's partner also revealed, after Norris's conviction, that Norris had experimented on his cat Casper before he began killing patients, injecting it with a lethal dose of insulin.[12] The partner had reported him to the police but Norris claimed the cat had died from hitting its head on a wall.[12]
Dislike of elderly
[edit]As a trainee nurse Norris often refused to work with elderly patients, saying he "didn't want to be working with that type of person".[13] He admitted to police he found elderly patients challenging.[1]
Police would later discover that Norris had repeatedly mistreated elderly patients in the early months of his nursing career at the same Leeds hospitals in which he would later go on to murder patients. In one instance, an elderly man asked Norris to empty his catheter bag, only for Norris to flatly refuse and insist he do it himself, before going off duty.[1] The elderly man then collapsed after trying to reach the bathroom by himself.[1] Other patients stated that Norris had treated them in an offhand and callous manner, and that Norris had an apparent dislike of old people.[1] Two elderly ex-patients said that Norris had verbally abused them after they rang an emergency buzzer on a ward when an elderly patient climbed out of bed, with Norris then saying to them "I hope you suffer" and "rot in hell".[14]
Murders
[edit]Ethel Hall
[edit]At the time of the murders, Norris worked at Leeds General Infirmary and St James's University Hospital in Leeds, having qualified as a nurse only a year earlier.[6][14][15] Suspicions were raised when Norris predicted the death of one patient, Ethel Hall, saying to a fellow nurse hours before: "I predict 5:15 a.m. as being the time Ethel Hall will become unwell" since he "had a feeling about her".[1] He said that he thought Hall was "going off tonight" and that he was a "jinx" on the hospital.[16][17] This was despite there being no medical indications of an impending illness, and Hall being on the ward only for a fractured hip.[6] Norris complained that he would have to fill out the paperwork for her death.[1][18] Hall duly fell catastrophically ill that morning around 5 a.m. and she died some weeks later. When nurses including Norris came to tend to her, he tapped his watch and said to the nurse he had predicted Hall's illness earlier: "I told you".[1] A doctor later recounted feeling "annoyed" at Norris's slow reaction to the collapse.[19] An anonymous male nurse called Hall's son from the hospital at 5:30 a.m. that morning telling him that she had taken a "turn for the worse", and it was not established who this man was.[20][21] The next night, Norris specifically called the ward to ask what had happened to Hall.[22]
A blood sample was taken from Hall after a doctor raised concerns and ordered blood tests, and her blood was found to contain an inexplicably massive amount of insulin – 1000 units in just one sample – and this became the main hard evidence in the police case.[1][18] The doctor who had ordered the tests was a diabetes expert who specialised in insulin and hypoglycaemic episodes, and she had believed the incident to be suspicious.[13] No doctor or medical staff member had prescribed her this drug, and she had no condition that required it to be issued.[13][23] The amount of insulin in Hall's blood was about 12 times the normal level, and it had been injected into her system.[24][25] The insulin was manufactured and not produced naturally in the body.[21] It had been injected into her abdomen, as indicated by the fact that a bulge was found under her skin there that was consistent with a large injection of fluid.[7][26][27] Doctors believed it was done by someone with nursing or medical experience.[7][27] The results of the tests led the hospital to contact the police.[28]
It was discovered after Hall's death that insulin had also been taken from the storage fridge, and Norris later admitted that he was the last person to have accessed this fridge before Hall had been injected with insulin.[1] Two vials of insulin were found to have been taken from the fridge, which had to have been taken by someone during the night shift which Norris was working when Hall became unwell.[13] Norris had on a previous occasion been caught stealing drugs from the hospital.[13] Norris also admitted that he was the last person to see Hall at 4.30 a.m., half an hour before she fell into the coma at around 5 a.m.[1]
Previous cases
[edit]Norris immediately came under suspicion and was questioned by police about Hall's murder.[1][16] It was further decided to investigate the deaths of 72 people who had died on the ward while Norris was working, and a special medical panel decided that 18 of the 72 deaths should be reviewed by independent medical experts.[1] The experts confirmed police suspicions that the deaths of three women were as a result of lethal injections of insulin, which causes hypoglycaemic attacks, but they also identified two more victims, one who had also died of insulin poisoning and another who had survived a massive injected overdose.[1][29] Along with Ethel Hall, none of these women were diabetic (nor was anyone else on the ward), and all of them had been admitted to the wards simply suffering from broken hips.[6][27] In any case, the amount of insulin Hall had been injected with was far in excess of what a diabetic patient would need.[16] They were also all murdered while in non-emergency orthopaedic wards, where only minor, non life-threatening things such as broken bones are treated.[30] When questioned about the cases Norris said "he seemed to have been unlucky over the last 12 months."[31]
The first three incidents occurred at Leeds General Infirmary.[32] They began in May 2002, which also notably happened to be when the detailed probationary monitoring of Norris's early progress as a newly qualified nurse ended.[8] On 17 May 2002, Norris injected patient Vera Wilby with an overdose of the painkiller morphine to make her drowsy (as recorded in the hospital notes and later admitted by Norris[33]), despite the fact that she was in no pain and needed no morphine.[6][8] He then administered insulin before going off shift, for no apparent medical reason.[6] Ninety minutes after he went off shift, Wilby was found to be semi-conscious and suffering from a sudden hypoglycaemic attack, but she survived.[6] Wilby had dementia and had been seen as a "difficult" patient by Norris.[34] On 12 June, another patient, Doris Ludlam, was admitted to Norris's ward with a broken hip.[6] On 25 June, she was also given an unnecessary injection of morphine (as recorded in the hospital notes and later admitted by Norris[33]) followed by an overdose of insulin, and Norris then again went off shift.[6][34] She was discovered in a coma 40 minutes after he went off shift.[6] 88-year-old Bridget Bourke, who had been admitted to the ward on 16 June also with a broken hip, was then discovered at 3:10 a.m. on 21 July (by Norris) suffering from a hypoglycaemic attack; she died the next day.[6][34]
Norris was then transferred to St James's University Hospital, and on 10 October 2002, 79-year-old Irene Crookes was admitted to Norris's new ward with a broken hip.[6][32] Despite Norris recording that her condition was improving, he supposedly found her "totally unresponsive" just before 6 a.m. on 19 October, having suffered a hypoglycaemic attack.[6] She died the next day.[6] It was deemed significant[by whom?] that the bizarre cases of hypoglycaemia appeared to follow Norris when he transferred to the new hospital —especially since he was the only staff member who had been transferred.[32] He was the only staff member who worked on both the wards in the two hospitals where all the hypoglycaemic incidents were occurring.[35] A colleague later stated that Norris had shown no desire to revive Crookes after she fell into a coma.[36] Another colleague also later testified that Norris had watched in "detached amusement" after one of the victims had fallen into a coma.[37] She said that "everything he did that night had to be prompted".[38] Significantly, it was discovered by a member of staff that they had suddenly run out of insulin after Crooke's hypoglycaemic attack.[38]
It is believed that by the time Hall was killed, Norris had become confident he could carry on killing without being caught, since no blood tests for insulin had been done.[39][34][28] He would not have expected, therefore, a blood sample to be taken from Hall and sent to a specialist laboratory as it was, which finally led to him being caught,[28] expecting the death would be considered due to natural causes.[23]
None of the patients had been prescribed insulin by any doctors or medical staff members in the hospital.[13] All the victims were considered somewhat "difficult" patients, which likely irritated Norris with his dislike for elderly patients.[34][13] One of the women had been throwing her bedclothes off just before he killed her.[40] Bourke was on Norris's ward at the same time as Ludlam and Wilby, meaning he had contact with all three at the same time.[32] In each case, the fatal dose of insulin had been administered at night, when Norris worked.[34] At the time of Hall's death, Norris suspiciously said to colleagues: "it is always in the morning when things go wrong" and "someone always dies when I do nights".[31] He also would have known doctors were not on duty overnight at the hospitals, so they couldn't help the patients when they all collapsed during Norris's night shifts.[28] Amongst the things the victims all had in common was that they were all frail women and that they all died after suffering broken hips.[28]
Investigation
[edit]It was found that the only nurse that had cared for all five of the patients and had been there within 2 hours of them becoming catastrophically ill was Norris.[1] Norris had been one of the few who was on duty at the time of Hall's deterioration in health.[1] Police analysed medical staff rotas, phone records and personnel files to determine who had access to the wards, insulin and who was on the wards at the time of that incident, and it was found that all staff members except Norris could be ruled out as it was only Norris who was on duty when all the incidents occurred.[1][13] He was also the only staff member who worked on both the wards where the incidents occurred.[35] Norris admitted predicting the time of Hall's death to his colleague but said it was because he had a "black sense of humour".[1] Investigators ordered the exhumation of the body of Bridget Bourke, which, significantly, revealed that she had been given large amounts of insulin.[38] The other two patients who had died had their bodies cremated, so could not be tested.[38]
Norris was suspended from his job (on full pay) while the police investigation was carried out.[8][41] After he was first arrested, Norris immediately left Leeds and went back to Scotland, before then leaving the UK eight times to go abroad, including to Tenerife for a six-month holiday.[41][42] After his conviction his partner recounted an incident around this time when Norris became violent and drunk, and wouldn't stop crying because he said he was scared of going to prison.[10] Norris's mother defended her son's trips around Europe, saying he was "trying to live his life the best he could while under the pressure of a police investigation".[42]
When police questioned Norris about the fact that the vials of insulin, the murder weapon in Hall's case, had gone missing from the fridge that morning when Hall was killed, he responded by saying: "obviously if someone was to kill someone, they wouldn't leave their signature would they? To say that they were there."[1] He denied ever injecting Hall with insulin.[23] The police were dismissive of Norris's claim that an intruder must have come in during the nightshift through the fire escape while nurses were having a cigarette before injecting Hall.[43] Norris said this despite revealing he had never once seen an intruder on the ward.[43] Detectives believed this suggestion that an intruder had sneaked onto a bay at night to inject a patient before sneaking away without anybody realising (since no other staff member could have been responsible) was highly implausible.[1]
Norris behaved bizarrely in the interviews he had with the police.[13] Throughout the interviews he acted notably aggressively and arrogantly, challenging detectives, and became physically angry at times to the point where he had to be restrained.[13] Investigators stated that Norris did not seem to be explicitly denying the murders, but insisting that they could not be proved, demanding officers told him how he did it and saying that he didn't think their facts were "good enough" to prove he had killed them.[1] Criminologist Jane Monkton-Smith said it was particularly unusual that Norris didn't behave as if he wanted to defend himself in interviews, but instead challenged the police and acted evasively.[13] Norris later admitted that he was trying to show how much more he knew than the police in interviews.[13] In 2004, during the investigation, he walked into the offices of the Yorkshire Evening Post and declared that the police had "nothing on him" to reporters.[44]
Chief superintendent on the case Chris Gregg, holder of the Queen's Police Medal and who caught David Bieber, 'Wearside Jack' and the killer of Leanne Tiernan, said that Norris's prediction of Hall's illness showed that it wasn't just a spontaneous incident where a criminal nurse at work had, for whatever reason decided to kill someone, saying "he actually premeditated this, hours before". Gregg said: "I think he was cocky; I think he was over-confident. He was showing off".[1] A criminal psychologist stated that, despite Norris's prediction, it was unlikely that he wanted to get caught, rather that he merely wanted to demonstrate a sense of superior knowledge.[1] Police noted that, in interviews, Norris showed no empathy for the women who had died or for their families, and claimed he couldn't remember any of the women.[1]
Trial
[edit]Norris, recorded as being of Egilsay Terrace, Glasgow,[45] went to trial in 2007 at Newcastle Crown Court. Norris's father did not object to the decision to charge his son, whom he described as "scum".[46] At trial Norris denied ever having predicted Hall's death, despite having admitted this in police interviews.[43] He admitted giving Vera Wilby and Doris Ludlam overdoses of morphine on 17 May and 25 June 2002 respectively (police had found these injections recorded by him in the hospital records).[33] He had given Ludlam twice the allowed dose of morphine.[47] It was highlighted that, when police first interviewed him, Norris had not mentioned the cases of Ludlam, Bourke and Crookes when he was asked if he had ever had experience of patients falling into hypoglycaemic comas, even though that is what they had experienced when Norris was on duty.[48] Police said they believed this was done on purpose so he didn't arouse suspicion about those cases at that stage, since they had not yet been uncovered by investigators.[48] It was also brought to the jury's attention that documents had been found at Norris's home detailing a less painful way of injecting morphine.[49] Norris claimed, despite the blood test evidence, that none of the patients had been injected and if they were then an 'intruder' must have done it (since records showed no other staff member could have been responsible).[48] This is despite the fact that the insulin fridge, where the drug had apparently been taken from, had a coded access and only medical staff could access it.[44]
Norris was convicted by an 11-1 majority verdict[1] on 3 March 2008 for the murder of four women, and the attempted murder of a fifth (Vera Wilby, aged 90).[24] He was sentenced the following day to life imprisonment, and ordered to serve a minimum term of 30 years in prison.[50] Norris had acted particularly aggressively throughout the trial, banging on the windows of the judge and attacking members of the press when departing the court, shoving two against a wall.[1][51] Pictures of these attacks were not shown on television for fear of influencing the jury.[51] The judge told Norris when sentencing:
"You are, I have absolutely no doubt, a thoroughly evil and dangerous man. You are an arrogant and manipulative man with a real dislike of elderly patients. The most telling evidence was that observation of one of your patients, Bridget Tarpey, who said 'he did not like us old women'. My view is you did not like them because they required too much nursing and were too demanding of your time. You are in my judgment essentially lazy as evidenced by your absences from student placements and work."[29]
Norris's mother June Morrison said she was "so proud of him".[42]
Referred to in the British press as the "Angel of Death", Norris was convicted of killing his victims by injecting them with high levels of insulin.[31] The four victims were:[6]
- Doris Ludlam, died 27 June 2002.
- Bridget Bourke, died 22 July 2002.
- Irene Crooks, died 20 October 2002.
- Ethel Hall, died 11 December 2002.
All of these victims had been killed in Norris's first year of working as a nurse.[1] Hall was a mother of one and a grandmother of two.[52] Ludlam was a mother of two, a grandmother and great-grandmother who had worked as a nursery school teacher and fostered children for the charity Barnardo's.[52] Wilby was a vulnerable widow.[52] Crooks died on her 79th birthday, unable to ever open her cards or presents.[35] Hall's son Stuart expressed his relief at Norris's conviction, stating: "I think he needs to be kept inside".[1] He added: "He has got the knowledge to kill people and to do it discreetly. That makes him a danger to society and he must be kept inside. We hope Colin Norris never leaves prison and can never harm anyone else again."[10][12][19]
After the verdict was announced, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust apologised to the victims' families for Norris's "disturbing" crimes, subsequently describing him as an "extremely dangerous criminal".[24] In 2009, the Nursing and Midwifery Council struck off Norris from the medical register, taking just five minutes to come to a decision on the matter.[53]
Norris was imprisoned in HM Prison Frankland as of 2019.[54]
Other suspected victims
[edit]After the trial, Chris Gregg revealed that he and the other detectives believed Norris had been responsible for up to six other deaths at the hospitals.[55][56] He was the only nurse on duty when three other suspicious deaths occurred, but police felt there was not enough evidence to pursue convictions for them.[57] Norris had also been arrested for another death of a patient, but the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to charge him in this case because of "complicating factors".[58] In two other suspicious cases, the fact that there had been no post-mortem examinations prevented enough evidence being accumulated to charge Norris for their deaths.[58]
Motive
[edit]Jessie McTavish, a nurse convicted and then controversially cleared of the 1974 murder of an 80-year-old patient with insulin, has been identified as the likely inspiration for Norris.[14] She had worked at Ruchill Hospital in Glasgow, less than a mile from where Norris grew up.[59] She had been released on appeal after her defence team successfully argued that the trial judge had inadvertently misled the jury in his final summing up, even though the appeal court judges said that it was something a "few words could have cured" and that there was enough evidence to support the prosecution.[14] Norris's personal tutor at university gave a specific talk to him and other students on her case on 11 January 2001, a year before Norris committed his first attack, in which Norris used the same method as McTavish had been accused of using.[6][60][14][61] Norris was tasked with "reviewing" her conduct, and in doing so, he would have learned that insulin is the perfect weapon for murder because it leaves the blood very quickly.[5][61] Just like Norris, McTavish had 'predicted' the exact time when a healthy patient would die.[62][full citation needed] She was able to continue her career in nursing after she was released on appeal.[59] Norris had notably also attended lectures in 1999 on diabetes and the treatment of diabetic patients with insulin, where he learned about the consequences of blood sugars being too high or too low.[6][63]
Forensic psychiatrist Sir Richard Badcock, the only psychiatrist to formally assess the serial killer doctor Harold Shipman, stated his belief that Norris was a psychopath, who killed elderly patients simply because they got in his way.[1] Just like Norris, Shipman's motive was not immediately clear.[51] Chris Gregg said that he believed that Norris decided to poison the women simply because he found elderly patients irritating.[1] Psychologist and senior lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University Dr David Holmes concluded that Norris was searching for a sense of power, since a medical staff member like him "administers literally life and death to affirm their own status or self-appointed status".[64] High-profile criminologist David Wilson commented on the case of Norris and other recently convicted serial killers by saying: "What's happening at the moment is that new groups are emerging as being vulnerable to attack".[65]
Aftermath
[edit]Failed 2009 appeal
[edit]Norris appealed against his conviction in 2009.[66] Originally, Norris planned to appeal on the grounds that the trial judge had shown a "lack of balance", but then scrapped these plans and sacked his legal team.[66][67] He subsequently appealed on the grounds that the judge had "misdirected" the jury in his final summary but he lost this appeal, with judge Lord Justice Aikens ruling the convictions were "safe" and saying that the case against Norris was "very strong indeed".[66] The appeal court rejected both grounds of the appeal, saying that the judge's directions "cannot validly be criticised" and that there was no misdirection to the jury.[66] The appeal court instead said that the judge's summary in the original case was an exemplary "tour de force".[13] The judges also refused to believe that the deaths were "coincidental".[68] Norris's defence team had argued that the deaths could have been the result of 'naturally' raised insulin levels caused by severe spontaneous hypoglycaemia, but the judges rejected this possibility.[68]
Inquiry
[edit]In 2010, an independent inquiry into Norris's murders was held.[69] The inquiry recommended the introduction of 'student practice passports', which would report on the personality and integrity of students while they trained as medical professionals at university.[69] It was felt that this may have flagged up Norris as an issue earlier had they been in use at the time of his studying, since he had knowingly acted aggressively during placements, had a poor absence record and had clashed with tutors on numerous occasions.[1][69] These 'passports', it was argued, would allow universities to evaluate at the end of a student's course whether the individual was fit to join the medical register.[69] The inquiry found that the University of Dundee had not identified Norris's difficulties in its reference to employers, and the inquiry concluded that organisational, systems and cultural factors provided an opportunity for Norris to murder the four women in 2002.[69] Nurse managers had already been urged after Norris's conviction in 2008 to take greater care when recruiting staff, and NHS employers had introduced new guidance on pre-employment checks.[37]
Claims of innocence
[edit]On 4 October 2011 the BBC reported that retired Professor Vincent Marks – a leading expert on insulin poisoning – was concerned about Norris's conviction. He had been asked by the Norris family to find evidence in the case.[70] He claimed the jury at Norris's trial was wrongly led to believe by experts that a cluster of hypoglycaemic episodes, among people who were not diabetic, was sinister. After carrying out his own studies, he said: "Looking at all the evidence, all I can say is I think Colin Norris's conviction is unsafe".[70][71] He claimed that his own studies had shown that up to 1 in 10 of hypoglycaemia episodes in elderly people were caused naturally.
Marks said the four patients picked out by the experts after Mrs Hall's death "were all at very high risk of developing spontaneous hypoglycaemia" because they had risk factors such as malnutrition, infection and multi-organ failure.[72]
In 2011 Louise Shorter, the former producer of BBC's Rough Justice, and journalist Mark Daly produced the documentary A Jury in the Dark, arguing that there were logical, non-criminal explanations for all the deaths.[73] They and Marks claimed that Ethel Hall's hypoglycaemic arrest could have been caused naturally by 'auto-immune syndrome'.[70] The possibility of auto-immune syndrome having caused the women's arrests had also already been considered and rejected at the trial.[70] During research for the film, Daly discovered an additional death at Leeds General Infirmary which police had initially been investigating as a potential murder carried out by a male nurse, however; the death "went from suspicious to non-suspicious", when police learned that Norris was not on duty at the time.[74] Norris's mother has tried to prove her son innocent, saying: "Either I am the mother of Scotland's worst serial killer or mother to the victim of the country's most terrible miscarriage of justice".[75][76] After watching the BBC programme the sister-in-law of victim Bridget Bourke said that she was still convinced of Norris's guilt.[76]
In May 2013 the Criminal Cases Review Commission confirmed it was re-examining the Norris case in the light of new medical and scientific evidence contradictory to that submitted to the jury during the original trial.[74] However, in 2014, the son of victim Vera Wilby, John Barrie Wilby, said that he was "sad and upset" about the claims that Norris may be innocent, and said that he was still convinced of his guilt.[77] In the same year there was outrage amongst elderly residents when a benefit concert was held for Norris in Dundee, with a spokesperson of the Dundee Pensioners' Forum stating: "Having a party for someone convicted of murdering all these elderly, vulnerable people is disgraceful. It's a slap in the face doing it, with all those families still grieving their loved ones".[78] The Times declared he was one of "the 11 most evil staff in the NHS".[79] In January 2015 the foreman of the jury that convicted Norris, after being shown the evidence in the BBC programme, said that he now believes him to be innocent; apparently the second member of the jury to do so (although this would still leave enough jury members to convict him, 10).[80][81] He said that "the evidence shows a murder wasn't committed at all" (although in 2021 the CCRC concluded that Hall's case at least was indeed a clear murder).[82][81]
2021 CCRC referral to Court of Appeal
[edit]The Criminal Case Review Commission was given scientific information that the test which had established that Ethel Hall's blood was full of insulin was inaccurate, and that it was therefore not possible for her to have been murdered by an overdose of insulin.[83] In 2021, the Criminal Case Review Commission discounted this claim when they said that there was "no dispute" that Hall was "murdered by the injection of insulin". The CCRC considered that Norris' conviction for Hall's murder relies on support from the other four convictions and the Crown's claim that no one else apart from Norris was responsible. The commission was "satisfied" that the claim that Norris was solely responsible is "less secure" with the new expert evidence.[82]
In February 2021 the CCRC stated that after a "detailed review of this complex and difficult case" they had decided to refer the case to the Court of Appeal.[82] It was said there was a serious possibility that the conviction was unsafe.[84] As to Ethel Hall, the CCRC said that "there is no dispute that she was murdered by the injection of insulin".[82] The experts who advised the CCRC said that it was not possible for a natural hypoglycaemic episode to have caused Hall's death, but could not exclude it being a possibility in the other four cases.[82] Norris's defence team stated that Hall's case was a case of natural death, as with the others.[76][13] The CCRC said that, in reaching the decision, they had been "greatly assisted" by the evidence of the experts employed by Norris's defence team.[82]
In popular culture
[edit]In 2008, Norris's case was the focus of an ITV Real Crime documentary.[1] In 2014, Norris was the subject of the BBC Panorama documentary "The Innocent Serial Killer?"[85]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak Real Crime (4 December 2008). Real Crime: Angel of Death. ITV (Television production). Archived from the original on 21 December 2021.
- ^ "The hatred that turned Colin Norris into serial killer". www.scotsman.com. 3 March 2008. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
- ^ Burns, Janice (4 March 2008). "Trapped by Arrogance; 'Decent Young Man' Was Serial Killer Who Showed No Remorse for His Murder Spree: Evil Norris thought he would never be caught". Daily Record. p. 6.
- ^ "Failings allowed Leeds nurse Colin Norris to kill". BBC News.
- ^ a b c d "Murder accused nurse: 'I don't like old people'". Yorkshire Evening Post. 16 October 2007.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q "Colin Norris, Angel of Death nurse: Timeline". The Telegraph.
- ^ a b c Stokes, Paul (17 October 2007). "Nurse accused of murdering four patients. He 'turned killer on the night shift'". The Telegraph.
- ^ a b c d "Did another rogue nurse inspire plot to steal fatal drugs?". Yorkshire Post. 4 March 2008.
- ^ a b "Nurse Colin Norris given 30 year jail term for murders". Daily Mirror. 5 March 2008.
- ^ a b c Burns, Janice (5 March 2008). "You're an Evil and Dangerous Man; Angel of death caged for 30 years". Daily Record. p. 9.
- ^ a b "A killer at the bedside". Banbury Guardian. 20 April 2006.
- ^ a b c White, Stephen (4 March 2008). "'He is evil .. he was trying to play God': Fury of Families Nurse Murdered 4 Women". Daily Mirror. p. 15.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Colin Norris (Series 1, episode 8). Nurses Who Kill (Television documentary). Really. 30 November 2016.
- ^ a b c d e Stokes, Paul (2 March 2008). "Colin Norris: From student to deadly abuser". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 30 April 2010.
- ^ Ford, Steve (2008). "Could Colin Norris have been stopped?". Nursing Times. 104 (10): 8–9. PMID 18416393.
- ^ a b c "Murder accused predicted patient's death, court told". Yorkshire Post. 16 October 2007.
- ^ "Murder trial nurse 'spoke of jinx' before patient collapsed". Yorkshire Post. 2 November 2007.
- ^ a b "Death forecast led to conviction". BBC News. 3 March 2008. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
- ^ a b "Patient collapsed... just as the accused predicted". Yorkshire Post. 4 March 2008.
- ^ "Doctor raised murder alarm at shock coma". Yorkshire Evening Post. 31 October 2007.
- ^ a b "Patient's son 'told of insulin discovery in body'". Yorkshire Post. 31 October 2007.
- ^ "Murder-charge nurse 'predicted time of trouble'". Yorkshire Post. 3 November 2007.
- ^ a b c "Nurse 'killed four elderly patients with insulin shots'". Yorkshire Post. 17 October 2007.
- ^ a b c "Nurse guilty of killing patients". BBC News. 3 March 2008. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
- ^ Simpson, Cameron (14 October 2005). "Scots nurse charged with killing patients; Father's shock at murder allegations". The Herald. p. 2.
- ^ "Patient, 86 must have been murdered, says QC". Yorkshire Post. 19 October 2007.
- ^ a b c Thornton, Lucy (17 October 2007). "Someone always died when I worked nights; Nurse Murdered Four, Jury Hear". Daily Mirror. p. 23.
- ^ a b c d e Norfolk, Andrew (17 October 2007). "Nurse accused of serial killing 'made chilling prediction of death at 5.15'". The Times. p. 3.
- ^ a b Jenkins, Russell (5 March 2008). "Killer nurse Colin Norris must serve at least 30 years". The Times. London. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
- ^ Waites, Mike (13 October 2005). "Male nurse charged with murders of four hospital patients". Yorkshire Post.
- ^ a b c Chivers, Tom (3 March 2008). "Colin Norris, 'Angel of Death' nurse, convicted". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 15 March 2008. Retrieved 3 March 2008.
- ^ a b c d Howie, Michael (17 October 2007). "Scots nurse accused of murder by insulin". The Scotsman. p. 1.
- ^ a b c "I was only trying to ease their pain". Yorkshire Post. 5 February 2008.
- ^ a b c d e f Heffernan, Catherine (17 October 2007). "Ward nurse accused of killing four patients: Murders committed using insulin, court told: Victims 'could be regarded as burden to staff'". The Guardian. p. 13.
- ^ a b c "On her 79th birthday, patient's cards lay unopened". Yorkshire Post. 4 March 2008.
- ^ "Accused nurse predicted patients' time of death". Nursing Standard. 22 (7): 6. October 2007.
- ^ a b Harrison, Sarah (March 2008). "Tougher pre-employment checks not expected to prevent murders". Nursing Standard. 22 (27): 10.
- ^ a b c d Stokes, Paul (18 October 2007). "Nurse 'amused' by patient's coma". The Telegraph. p. 19.
- ^ Thornton, Lucy (17 October 2007). "Someone Always Dies When I Work Nights; Murder trial is told of nurse's claim". Daily Record. p. 7.
- ^ "Nurse convicted of killing four patients". UPI. 3 March 2008.
- ^ a b "Glasgow Nurse, 29 Charged with Killing 4 Patients; Man appears in court over deaths of frail pensioners in hospital". Evening Times (Glasgow). 13 October 2005. p. 1.
- ^ a b c MacAskill, Grace (9 March 2008). "I Was So Proud; Exclusive: Mum on Perfect Son Turned Mass Killer". Glasgow Mail. p. 4.
- ^ a b c "Murder accused nurse: 'I wouldn't put lives at risk'". Yorkshire Evening Post. 19 October 2007.
- ^ a b "Evil killer gets 30 year minimum sentence". Yorkshire Evening Post. 4 March 2008.
- ^ "Nurse charged". Liverpool Echo. 13 October 2005. p. 8.
- ^ "Dad slams his murder accused son". Evening Times (Glasgow). 14 October 2005. p. 2.
- ^ "Murder accused nurse denies becoming confident". Yorkshire Evening Post. 8 February 2008.
- ^ a b c "Nurse refutes killing patients". Yorkshire Evening Post. 6 February 2008.
- ^ "I have never killed anyone, nurse tells jury". Yorkshire Post. 8 February 2008.
- ^ "Killer nurse must serve 30 years". BBC News. 4 March 2008. Retrieved 4 March 2008.
- ^ a b c Brown, Craig (4 March 2008). "Guilty of murdering four elderly patients - and he was only halted by vigilance of doctor". The Scotsman. p. 4.
- ^ a b c Bruce, David (13 October 2005). "Victims who never came out of hospital". Yorkshire Evening Post.
- ^ "Killer nurse struck off register". BBC.
- ^ Lindsay, Kali; Warburton, Dan (6 January 2019). "Killer nurse starts prison foodbank that feeds County Durham families". ChronicleLive. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
- ^ Burns, Janice (4 March 2008). "Angel of Death; Scots nurse guilty of murdering 4 frail old ladies with drug". Daily Record. p. 1.
- ^ Stokes, Paul (4 March 2008). "Nurse killed night shift 'nuisances'". The Telegraph.
- ^ Stokes, Paul; Britten, Nick (4 March 2008). "Nurse killed night shift 'nuisances'". The Telegraph.
- ^ a b Norfolk, Andrew; Jenkins, Russell (4 March 2008). "Nurse was a serial killer in the process of perfecting his craft". The Times. p. 9.
- ^ a b Leask, David (4 March 2008). "Did Sister Jessie's story influence carer who used insulin to kill?". The Herald. p. 5.
- ^ "The hatred that turned Colin Norris into serial killer". The Scotsman. 3 March 2008. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
- ^ a b "Legacy of a lecture on Sister Jessie; The Inspiration 'Decent Young Man' Was Serial Killer Who Showed No Remorse for His Murder Spree". Daily Record. 4 March 2008. p. 7.
- ^ Stokes, Paul (4 March 2008). "Nurse murdered elderly patients who were a nuisance on the night shift". p. 8.
- ^ "Nurse 'didn't like geriatric patients'". Yorkshire Post. 19 October 2007.
- ^ "Why did a nurse turn to murder?". BBC News. 3 March 2008. Retrieved 8 August 2022.
- ^ McDonald, Barry (17 October 2009). "'Serial Killers? We're Making It Easier for Them' Mass murderers always target the same five types of people , says Professor David Wilson. So why do we still not see them coming? Interview". The Herald. p. 20.
- ^ a b c d "Killer nurse loses appeal against conviction". BBC. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
- ^ "Killer nurse sacks lawyers". Daily Record. 30 January 2009. p. 33.
- ^ a b McIntosh, Lindsay (22 December 2009). "Killer nurse jailed for 30 years loses appeal". The Times. p. 18.
- ^ a b c d e Dean, Erin (February 2010). "Serial killer inquiry prompts call for student practice passports". Nursing Standard. 24 (22): 6. doi:10.7748/ns.24.45.6.s4.
- ^ a b c d "Colin Norris: Expert hope for Leeds hospital murderer". Yorkshire Evening Post. 4 October 2011.
- ^ "Colin Norris jury 'misled' says insulin expert". bbc.co.uk. 4 October 2011. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
- ^ "Colin Norris case: Murder convictions 'unsafe'". The BBC. London. 4 October 2011. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
- ^ "Hospital Serial Killer: A Jury in the Dark". Inside Time. London. October 2011. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
- ^ a b "Fresh evidence challenges 'Angel of Death' nurse Colin Norris's conviction". The Guardian. 20 May 2013. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
- ^ "Colin Norris: 'Angel of Death' nurse case goes back to Appeal judges". The Justice Gap. 15 February 2021. Retrieved 7 August 2022.
- ^ a b c McGivern, Mark (26 January 2015). "My Son Is Not the Angel of Death My Son; Breaking Her Silence Scots Nurse's Shattered Mum". Daily Record. p. 6.
- ^ "He's still guilty: Son of pensioner killed by Leeds nurse Colin Norris after BBC documentary". Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
- ^ Beatson, Jamie (15 March 2014). "Killer Tunes; Outrage over city benefit concert for serial murderer nurse dubbed the Angel of Death". Daily Record. p. 31.
- ^ Kennedy, Dominic (8 January 2014). "Revealed: the 11 most evil staff in the NHS". The Times. p. 15.
- ^ "Colin Norris: Juror's doubt over serial killer verdict". BBC News. 28 January 2015. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
- ^ a b Ferguson, John (29 January 2015). "Juror's Killer Doubt; Angel of Death serial killer given appeal hope". Daily Record. p. 23.
- ^ a b c d e f "Commission refers the murder and attempted murder convictions of Colin Norris to the Court of Appeal". CCRC. 12 February 2021. Retrieved 7 August 2022.
- ^ Kennedy, Dominic (10 February 2014). "'Angel of Death' says flawed blood test led to conviction for killing 4 women". The Times. p. 22.
- ^ "Colin Norris: Serial killer nurse case referred to Court of Appeal". BBC News. 12 February 2021. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
- ^ "BBC One - Panorama, the Innocent Serial Killer?". BBC News.
External links
[edit]- 1976 births
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